Independent auditor’s report to the members of Royal Trinity Hospice for the year ended 31 March 2022

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Royal Trinity Hospice (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 which comprise the group statement of financial activities, the group and charity balance sheets, the group cash flow and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion the financial statements:

> Give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the group and the parent charitable company as at 31 March 2022 and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

> Have been properly prepared in accordance with United

Kingdom Generally Accepted

Accounting Practice; and

> Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the

Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group or the parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in

the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information; we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

> The information given in the Trustees’

Annual Report which includes the

Directors’ Report and the Strategic

Report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

> The Trustees’ Annual Report which includes the Directors’ Report and the Strategic Report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report and Strategic Report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

> Adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

> The parent charitable company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

> Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or > We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities set out on page 24, the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of the financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group and the parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditors under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under that Act. Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the group and parent financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are detailed below.

Identifying and assessing risks related to irregularities:

We assessed the susceptibility of the group and parent charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement and how fraud might occur, including through discussions with the trustees, discussions within our audit team planning meeting, updating our record of internal controls and ensuring these controls operated as intended. We evaluated possible incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements. We identified laws and regulations that are of significance in the context of the group and parent charitable company by discussions with trustees and updating our understanding of the sector in which the group and parent charitable company operate. Laws and regulations of direct significance in the context of the group and parent charitable company include The Companies Act 2006 and guidance issued by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Further, the parent charitable company is subject to other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance could have a material effect on amounts or disclosures in the financial statements; through a significant fine, litigation, prosecution or restrictions on the parent charitable company’s operations. We identified the most significant laws and regulations to be those issued by the Care Quality Commission (‘CQC’) covering the provision of health and social care in England.

Audit response to risks identified:

We considered the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items including a review of financial statement disclosures. We reviewed the parent charitable company’s records of breaches of laws and regulations, minutes of meetings and correspondence with relevant authorities, including the CQC, to identify potential material misstatements arising. We discussed the parent charitable company’s policies and procedures for compliance with laws and regulations with members of management responsible for compliance. During the planning meeting with the audit team, the engagement partner drew attention to the key areas which might involve noncompliance with laws and regulations or fraud. We enquired of management whether they were aware of any instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations or knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud. We addressed the risk of fraud through management override of controls by testing the appropriateness of journal entries and identifying any significant transactions that were unusual or outside the normal course of business. We assessed whether judgements made in making accounting estimates gave rise to a possible indication of management bias. At the completion stage of the audit, the engagement partner’s review included ensuring that the team had approached their work with appropriate professional scepticism and thus the capacity to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations and fraud. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/ auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the parent charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the parent charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the parent charitable company and the parent charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Claire Wills (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Saffery Champness LLP

Chartered Accountants 71 Queen Victoria Street, Statutory Auditors, London, EC4V 4BE

Date

Saffery Champness LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006